Indian Wells: Social Media reaction to cancellation of BNP Paribas Open

leye aduloju /

Tennis players around the world have been reacting to the cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, with some of them taking to Social Media to express their views about the decision.

Tournament organizers announced on Sunday evening local time that the BNP Paribas Open, will not be held due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 virus, or coronavirus. The qualifying draw was originally scheduled to begin on Monday, 9 March, with the main draw set to start two days later.

Indian Wells is one of the biggest sporting events to be cancelled due to the outbreak of the virus, which has led to almost 4,000 deaths globally as at the time of writing. The BNP Paribas Open is one of nine Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour, and one of four Premier Mandatory tournaments on the WTA Tour. The prestigious meet is often referred to as the unofficial ‘fifth slam’, with over 450,000 spectators attending the tournament in 2018 and 2019.

It remains unclear what will happen to future tournaments on the ATP and the WTA tours, but there are fears that more tournaments will be cancelled as the world continues to feel the effects of the virus.

World No. 2 and three-time Indian Wells champion, Rafael Nadal is one of many players to have had their say on Social Media, with the great Spaniard expressing sadness over the havoc caused by the virus, while hoping for a solution to the problem.

The news of the cancellation has been met with varying reactions from the players, ranging from surprise to sadness…

Other players (a lot of them are already at Indian Wells) voiced their unhappiness at not being carried along in the decision making process, as a lot of them only found out about the news on Social media…

…although Nicole Gibbs claims the WTA sent out an email to the players…

Like most of us, the players are uncertain about what will happen to the tour in the immediate future…

Stefanos Tsitsipas knows exactly how to spend his free time!